We often find ourselves searching for meaning in a world that can feel chaotic, unpredictable, and even absurd.
Why do we seek meaning? How do we connect with one another? In his thought-provoking new book, Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times, Dr. Steven J. Heine provides scientifically grounded answers to these questions. Start Making Sense shows humans have evolved to seek meaning and provides a blueprint for building a better life.
“We are driven to lead lives that are perceived as meaningful by the standards of our cultures and when we feel that we are falling short of these, our well-being suffers.”
Dr. Heine, a professor in UBC’s department of psychology, joins us for Q&A to discuss how humans are driven to find a sense of meaning—and how psychology can guide us toward more authentic and fulfilling lives.
How does existential psychology help us find meaning in a chaotic world?
Much research on existential psychology has focused on the question of what makes life meaningful. This work has revealed that meaning is ultimately about connections, and meaningful lives are lives that are richly connected. In particular, people’s lives feel more meaningful when they have satisfying interpersonal relationships, they feel attached to communities, they derive a sense of purpose and mastery from their work, and they have spiritual beliefs that connect them to something much larger than themselves. Having a meaningful life is important as people who do so tend to have better well-being, and are more resilient in the face of uncertainties and stressful life events. We could all have an easier time weathering the current chaos of the world if our lives were more meaningful.
Why do humans need to have a sense of meaning, and where does that come from?
Primatologists have never observed a chimpanzee to commit suicide. This curious observation highlights that the human situation is quite distinct from our closest animal relatives. Like all species we face external challenges that we must surmount in order to survive, but we are also faced with some daunting internal challenges: we struggle with our existential anxieties. I think the human predicament comes from us being a cultural species. We create cultures by sharing meanings with those around us, which results in a set of shared norms which dictates the kinds of behavior that are valued, shunned, tolerated, or encouraged. We are driven to lead lives that are perceived as meaningful by the standards of our cultures and when we feel that we are falling short of these, our well-being suffers.
What are some common ways people create meaning—and do they always help?
A key source of meaning in our lives comes from the life stories that we tell about ourselves. We create an ongoing narrative about who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it, and this lays the foundation of our sense of identity. But sometimes things happen that don’t always fit in with our life stories, and we rely on a number of psychological defenses to keep our stories intact. For example, we might rationalize the decisions we make so that they seem sensible, we may view the events in our lives through rose-colored glasses so we come out looking good, we might interpret the events in the world to be just regardless of the injustice that might exist, and we may believe that some part of us will continue to persist after our deaths. These defenses ensure that we can fit our experiences into the stories that we are telling about ourselves, although these defenses have their limits. When they fail, and we begin to question our stories, we can suffer from a loss of meaning, and this prompts us to search for other ways to view our lives as making sense.
How do people’s spiritual beliefs help make their lives more meaningful?
One of the most consistent findings in the meaning literature is that religious people report that their lives are more meaningful than non-believers. In our own research we have found that this meaning-boost also extends to people who identify as spiritual but not religious. Our research suggests that the key reason behind their heightened levels of meaning is their mystical beliefs, such as whether they believe in karma, or whether they feel that the whole universe is connected. Likewise, we have found that people who maintain more scientifically reductionist views, and believe that there is nothing more than the material world around them, are less likely to view their lives as meaningful. These findings indicate that when we feel that we are connected to something that is much larger than the world that we experience, we are more likely to feel that we matter, and this is associated with a greater sense of meaning.
